The present invention generally relates to power distribution systems and, more particularly, power distribution systems which operate in vehicles such as aircraft.
In typical prior art aircraft, various elements of electronic and electrical equipment are supplied from only a single source of electrical power. Consequently, these elements are vulnerable to power interruptions, even brief interruptions. Power interruptions may result from events such as load shedding, bus transfers and other transients. In order to reduce this vulnerability, some equipment may be installed so that its power may be supplied from two or more sources.
Provision of this multiple sourcing of power has not been a simple matter in the prior art. While, multiple-power sourcing of low-current direct current (DC) equipment may be provided by connecting the equipment to a common DC bus, it is impracticable to connect high-current DC equipment to a common bus. A common bus connection is also not feasible for alternating current (AC) equipment. Thus, any prior art multiple-power sourcing of AC equipment or high current DC equipment has required direct connectability to multiple generators. In these cases, each piece of the multiple-power sourced equipment requires special dedicated circuitry that can prevent back-feeding between power sources. Also, redundant conditioning circuitry is required on each piece of equipment for each of the sources of power.
As can be seen, there is a need to provide for multiple-power sourcing of electronic and electrical equipment without providing added circuitry to the equipment. There is also a need to provide such multiple-power sourcing available for AC equipment as well as high current DC equipment.